Réseau AGIR
 |
This article may contain parts that are misleading. (August 2012) |
| Réseau AGIR | |
|---|---|
 AGIR provided HUMINT on V-1 flying bomb "ski sites", here Maisoncelle.[1][2] In 1974, the "Maison-Ponthieu site" still had the treelines and ski-shaped buildings depicted in this diagram.[3]:6 |
|
| Active | began 1941 |
| Country | Occupied France |
| Allegiance | Allies of World War II |
| Type | French Resistance |
| Role | Human intelligence (espionage) |
| Size | >100[4] informants, a few agents |
The Réseau AGIR (English: ACT Network) was a World War II espionage group founded[5] by French wartime resister Michel Hollard that provided human intelligence on V-1 flying bomb facilities.
Intelligence was collected every 3 weeks[citation needed] directly from volunteer informants who gathered information in their normal jobs (e.g., through the position as station masters, barkeepers, hotel managers, dock workers. To obtain travel permits, a few full-time AGIR agents were registered salesmen of Hollard's employer. Hollard paid the AGIR expenses[citation needed] and smuggled information to the British military attaché in Bern, Switzerland, from Occupied France making ninety-eight trips from 1941 through February 1944 when he was betrayed and arrested.[6]
One member of the network, Olivier Giran, was taken and executed in 1943.[7]:364 On 5 February 1944, Michel Hollard and 4 other AGIR agents (including Henri Dujarier) were arrested during a cafe meeting on the Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Denis. Hollard received the "bath treatment" (torture) at the hands of the Milice and was imprisoned until the end of the war. Jules Mailly died at a Mauthausen camp 4 months after his arrest, and Joseph Legendre led AGIR after he and Robert Rubenach were released.[citation needed]
V-1 espionage [edit]
An AGIR railway engineer at Rouen reported in 1943 unusual constructions in Upper Normandy, Michel Hollard's report of September 1943 to the British Secret Intelligence Service identified six V-1 flying bomb facilities: "Bonnetot [sic] le Faubourg, Auffray [sic], Totes, Ribeaucourt, Maison Ponthieu and Bois Carre".[3]:3 A more detailed report in October about Bois Carré (1.4 km east of Yvrench)[8] claimed it had "a concrete platform with centre axis pointing directly to London".[7][9] AGIR reconnoitered 104 V-1 facilities and helped pinpointing the Watten bunker, the first V-2 launching site.[6] AGIR also provided complet sketches of V-1 launching site such as one by André Comps of Bois Carré (In English: "square woods") labeled "La position de Maisons" and B2.[7]:362 Hollard had the site infiltrated by Comps, who copied "the blueprints"[3]:3—a copy of the compass swinging building blueprint and the Bois Carré sketch were published in 1978.[7]:362-3
Post-war [edit]
AGIR agents received various British and French military awards (including Hollard's DSO for V-1 espionage),[10] and Hollard's biographies provide AGIR history.[11] In 2009, Joseph Brocard was the last surviving AGIR participant.[12]
References [edit]
- Citations
- ^ Bauer 1972, pp. 2059, 2068
- ^ Zaloga & Johnson 2008, p. 24
- ^ a b c "The V-Weapons". After The Battle: 3, 14, 16. 1974.
- ^ Lee 2001
- ^ "Michel Hollard: Heros de la Resistance" (in French). Retrieved 2010-02-09.
- ^ a b Jeffery 2010, p. 535
- ^ a b c d Jones 1978, pp. 300,360–4
- ^ "V1, V2 & V3" (in German). christianCH.ch. Retrieved 2010-02-11.
- ^ In addition to identifying the 1943 execution of Giran, Jones also claims that on September 7, 1943, an Ultra intercept identified that an agent tasked with gathering V-weapon intelligence had been captured.
- ^ Distinguished Service Order citation for Michel Hollard. 1945. "Hollard, at great personal risk, reconnoitered a number of heavily guarded V1 sites and reported on them with such clarity that models were constructed which enabled effective[1] bombing to be carried out."
- ^ Martelli 1960
- ^ "Last remaining member of resistance network dies". Radio France Internationale. Retrieved 2010-02-09.
- Bibliography
- Bauer, Eddy (1972) [1966]. Illustrated World War II Encyclopedia. H. S. Stuttman Inc. pp. p2059,2068 (Vol 15). ISBN 0-87475-520-4. "(United States Air Force)"
- Jeffery, Keith (2010). MI6 : the history of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1949. London : New York: Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-0-7475-9183-2.
- Jones, R. V. (1978). Most Secret War: British Scientific Intelligence 1939-1945. London: Hamish Hamilton. ISBN 0-241-89746-7.
- Lee, Bruce (2001). Marching orders: the untold story of World War II (Google Books). Retrieved 2010-02-11.
- Martelli, George (1960). Agent extraordinary: the story of Michel Hollard, D. S. O., Croix de guerre. Collins. OCLC 1349946.
- Zaloga, Steven J.; Johnson, Hugh (2008) [2007]. German V-Weapon Sites 1943-45. Fortress Study Group (72). Taylor, Chris (Illustrations). New York: Osprey Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-1-84603-247-9.
